The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_X_on_2023.svgbt_X_over_2023.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_X_on_2023.svgbt_X_over_2023.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Song Ji-hyo to make silver screen return in 'House of Meeting'

  • 3

    First S. Korea spy satellite successfully launched into orbit

  • 5

    NewJeans wins 2 grand prizes at Melon Music Awards 2023

  • 7

    Tension mounts between Yoon administration, opposition party

  • 9

    Nexon workers in conflict with umbrella union over stance on feminism

  • 11

    Is ruling party's reform drive at end of road?

  • 13

    Half-conscious Koreans

  • 15

    INTERVIEWHip-hop group Uptown returns after 13 years with new lineup

  • 17

    Rights activists criticize wage discrimination against migrant boat crews

  • 19

    Yoon's state visit to Netherlands to focus on semiconductor cooperation

  • 2

    Seoul says FEOC guidance reduces uncertainty, will continue close consultation with US

  • 4

    N. Korean leader calls for increased aerial combat posture amid tension over satellite launch

  • 6

    5 Korea tourism clips top 225 mil. views

  • 8

    INTERVIEWEcolab helps Korean partners profit from ESG management

  • 10

    Yoon accepts resignation offer of head of state broadcasting watchdog

  • 12

    Daegu mayor criticizes officials for spreading false hope about Expo bid

  • 14

    Life expectancy of Koreans falls for first time in 52 years over COVID-19: data

  • 16

    Late Ven. Jaseung's additional notes on last will found at his residence

  • 18

    DL, SPC chiefs apologize for worker deaths under poor labor conditions

  • 20

    Hyundai chief pledges to support globalization of archery

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
Sun, December 3, 2023 | 19:55
Defense
South Korea, US launch largest combined military drills in 5 years
Posted : 2022-08-22 16:48
Updated : 2022-08-23 14:11
Jung Min-ho
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
K1 tanks are on the move for an exercise at a training field in Paju, a city near the border with North Korea, Monday. South Korea and the U.S. began their biggest combined military training exercises in five years as they heighten their defense posture against the growing North Korean nuclear threat. Newsis
K1 tanks are on the move for an exercise at a training field in Paju, a city near the border with North Korea, Monday. South Korea and the U.S. began their biggest combined military training exercises in five years as they heighten their defense posture against the growing North Korean nuclear threat. Newsis

Yoon says realistic training exercises are necessary to preserve peace

By Jung Min-ho

South Korea and the United States began their largest combined military drills in five years, Monday, to sharpen their readiness at a time when North Korea is ramping up missile and nuclear threats.

The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, scheduled to continue until Sept. 1, mark the resumption of the two allies' full-scale field exercises involving fighter jets, warships, tanks and potentially tens of thousands of troops.

The participants will rehearse scenarios, such as responding to North Korea's attacks on key industrial facilities including an airport, a semiconductor factory or a nuclear power plant. The Ministry of Defense's report to the National Assembly shows that their training script reflects many of the actual combat situations being experienced in Ukraine, which has been defending its territory against Russia for more than six months now.

Since 2017, such exercises had been put on hold because former President Moon Jae-in and former U.S. President Donald Trump believed they were too expensive and too provocative to the North. Instead, the two leaders stepped up diplomatic efforts to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

K1 tanks are on the move for an exercise at a training field in Paju, a city near the border with North Korea, Monday. South Korea and the U.S. began their biggest combined military training exercises in five years as they heighten their defense posture against the growing North Korean nuclear threat. Newsis
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters prepare for an exercise at Camp Humphreys, a U.S. Army garrison in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Yonhap

During the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, there will be 13 combined field training programs, as well as a full operational capability assessment, a key procedure for the envisioned conditions-based transfer of wartime operational control from Washington to Seoul.

The same day, the government also started the annual Ulchi civil defense training program, led by government employees for the next four days.

"We can protect the lives of the people and national security only through realistic drills. Preserving peace on the Korean Peninsula is built on our airtight defense preparedness," President Yoon Suk-yeol said at a Cabinet meeting at his office in Seoul. "Today's war is different from the one of the past. It may involve cyberattacks on key facilities such as ports, airports and (the manufacturing plants of) semiconductors or attacks on the supply chains of important materials, with the aim of neutralizing our war capabilities."

In fact, during the last five years, the two allies' regular military drills were canceled or reduced to just computer simulations, while North Korea tested new types of weapons from their arsenal as part of its weapons development program, including hypersonic as well as short-range, intermediate-range and long-range ballistic missiles, which require new contingency plans and new drills.

Although the two allies made it clear that the Ulchi Freedom training exercise is defensive in nature, it is expected to draw an aggressive reaction from the North, which is likely to be ready for its seventh nuclear weapons test.

K1 tanks are on the move for an exercise at a training field in Paju, a city near the border with North Korea, Monday. South Korea and the U.S. began their biggest combined military training exercises in five years as they heighten their defense posture against the growing North Korean nuclear threat. Newsis
Soldiers attach South Korean national flags to military vehicles before an exercise in Paju, a city near the border with North Korea, Monday. Yonhap

The exercise comes several days after North Korea rejected South Korea's offer to give up its nuclear ambitions in phases, in return for a number of economic benefits.

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, called Yoon's proposal "foolish," criticizing him for resuming joint military drills with the U.S. Also, in a bizarre claim that balloons carrying anti-communist leaflets from the South were responsible for the spread of COVID-19 in the North, she warned of "deadly" retaliation.

Speaking to The Korea Times recently, some experts, including Cheong Seong-chang, chief of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, said North Korea will likely react to the joint military exercises with short-range missile launches rather than a nuclear or long-range missile test. Xi Jinping, president of China and a critical ally of North Korea, would not want Pyongyang to disturb the National Congress of the Communist Party of China as he seeks to secure an unprecedented third term in power there, the experts said.

North Korea fired two cruise missiles from the west coast last week following the beginning of the preliminary training for the Ulchi Freedom exercise. This year, the North conducted missile tests at an unprecedented pace, including launching its first intercontinental ballistic missile at full range since 2017.




Emailmj6c2@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
wooribank
LG group
Top 10 Stories
1[INTERVIEW] Ecolab helps Korean partners profit from ESG management INTERVIEWEcolab helps Korean partners profit from ESG management
2Major conglomerates speed up generational shifts in leadershipMajor conglomerates speed up generational shifts in leadership
3PPP slams abstainers in Assembly resolution on China's forced return of NK defectors PPP slams abstainers in Assembly resolution on China's forced return of NK defectors
4KOICA’s global supporters conclude remarkable journey with grand finale showKOICA’s global supporters conclude remarkable journey with grand finale show
5Son-dol: a cold day for a ferryman and a merchantSon-dol: a cold day for a ferryman and a merchant
6[INTERVIEW] 'Lifeline for migrant workers in Korea' - Rev. Kim fights for foreign employees' rights INTERVIEW'Lifeline for migrant workers in Korea' - Rev. Kim fights for foreign employees' rights
7[INTERVIEW] Korea to work with US, Japan to fight climate change INTERVIEWKorea to work with US, Japan to fight climate change
8Korean economy to start shrinking by 2050 if low birthrate unaddressed: BOK reportKorean economy to start shrinking by 2050 if low birthrate unaddressed: BOK report
9Korea vows to foster nuclear energy to achieve net zeroKorea vows to foster nuclear energy to achieve net zero
10Tensions rise as opposition demands special probe into first lady Tensions rise as opposition demands special probe into first lady
Top 5 Entertainment News
1JYP to host annual audition in JanuaryJYP to host annual audition in January
2Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra dazzles audience at Korea International Festival Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra dazzles audience at Korea International Festival
3[INTERVIEW] Hip-hop group Uptown returns after 13 years with new lineup INTERVIEWHip-hop group Uptown returns after 13 years with new lineup
4ONE PACT debuts hoping to leave big impact on K-pop scene ONE PACT debuts hoping to leave big impact on K-pop scene
5[INTERVIEW] ASTRO members aim to shine in musical theaterINTERVIEWASTRO members aim to shine in musical theater
DARKROOM
  • It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

    It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

  • 2023 Thanksgiving parade in NYC

    2023 Thanksgiving parade in NYC

  • Appreciation of autumn colors

    Appreciation of autumn colors

  • Our children deserve better

    Our children deserve better

  • Israel-Gaza conflict erupts into war

    Israel-Gaza conflict erupts into war

  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel: 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844
Date of registration: 2020.02.05
Masthead: The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group